How to Make Your Motorcycle Stop Making Strange Noises
July 20th, 2009Brilliant!
I guess I am getting serious about motorcycles again (i.e., I plan to ride more than once a month), because I just bought a new garage-door remote. I am tired of taking the other one out of the car and putting it back later.
I took the Moto Guzzi out yesterday. And finally, I remembered to bring ear plugs. I got a little ways up the street, and as I got up to about 40 miles per hour, I started hearing all sorts of strange high-pitched noises. Like something on the engine had come loose. I stopped and started several times, trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally, I decided to take the plugs out so I could hear better. And the noise disappeared.
Looks like I was hearing the wind as it passed over my helmet. The plugs made the engine harder to hear, but they let the higher-pitched sounds through. Another problem solved by Amateur Motorcycle Genius.
I should probably get the tires changed on both bikes. They’re in good shape, but they’re old. In the past, tire age wasn’t something people talked about a lot. Last year, I found out that tires deteriorate with time, so you shouldn’t keep them longer than around six years. I have read that the tire industry kept this quiet because they didn’t want to have to rotate their stock. Pun, if any, not intended.
I wonder where you go to get a motorcycle tire. I’m sure the local Harley dealer will do it, for five times what it should cost. I’ll bet I have to go to Hollywood or Fort Lauderdale to get it done right, at a fair price. There are a lot of services you just can’t get done correctly in Miami.
I should also get some stuff to get me back on the road if I have a flat. It looks like there’s a motorcycle equivalent to Fix-a-Flat. I should put some kind of bag on the Guzzi and keep a few tools and so on with both bikes.
If you have old tires on your car or bike, do something about it. Don’t wait until the sidewalls give out.
July 20th, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Nothing more fun than a Sunday Morning Ride
Just remember the Golden Rule – Recreation and not Transportation LOL
What year is the Moto Guzzi?
They are such beautiful bikes
Even some of the new ones look like 70’s models
July 20th, 2009 at 10:53 AM
unh huh. The tire industry would be really, really sad if you bought tires you don’t need. All that ugly filthy money which they don’t deserve having thrust upon them.
The number one cause of tire failure is insufficient pressure. The tire has to flex more than it needs to, which generates heat that deteriorates the rubber and the rubber-based glue that holds the tread onto the tire carcass. A man with an air compressor, a decent pressure gauge, and a tendency toward anal retentiveness shouldn’t have that problem.
Tires kept in a benign environment, which mainly means garaged (out of the sun) and little in the way of ozone and other caustics, last a long, long time. If they are exposed to sunlight and/or ozone, the long molecules of the rubber break down into shorter ones and the tire becomes brittle. When it bends under use, it cracks. Eventually the cracks go all the way through and the tire fails. That happens first on the sidewalls, which are both more exposed to damaging conditions and thinner, but it can happen on the tread, in which case the result is “chunking”, loss of blocks of tread rubber.
What you should do is inspect them. Not just “look”, but inspect with a magnifier and a strong light. If the rubber is still uniform and smooth with no cracks, the tire is fine. To stress them and make the cracks (if any) show up better, deflate the tire and move the vehicle one or two wheel rotations, then re-inflate.
Regards,
Ric
July 20th, 2009 at 11:01 AM
The tire industry’s reasons for failing to point out that stored tires fall apart are subject to speculation. But what I wrote is correct or at least, not based on BS. The current wisdom is that even if you store your tires in a dark closet, they should be discarded when they get old.
.
A few seconds of Googling would have been a great help to you in formulating your comment. This is from Tirerack.com:
.
“The British Rubber Manufacturers Association (BRMA) recommended practice issued June, 2001, states ‘BRMA members strongly recommend that unused tyres should not be put into service if they are over six years old and that all tyres should be replaced ten years from the date of their manufacture.’
.
‘Environmental conditions like exposure to sunlight and coastal climates, as well as poor storage and infrequent use, accelerate the aging process. In ideal conditions, a tyre may have a life expectancy that exceeds ten years from its date of manufacture. However, such conditions are rare. Aging may not exhibit any external indications and, since there is no non-destructive test to assess the serviceability of a tyre, even an inspection carried out by a tyre expert may not reveal the extent of any deterioration.’
.
More recently, The Japan Automobile Tire Manufacturers Association (JATMA) recommended practice issued May, 2005, states ‘customers are encouraged to have their vehicle tires promptly inspected after five years of use to determine if the tires can continue to be used (recommends spare tires be inspected as well). Furthermore, even when the tires look usable, it is recommended that all tires (including spare tires) that were made more than ten years ago be replaced with new tires. Additionally, because in some cases automobile makers–based on the characteristics of the relevant vehicle–stipulate in the owner’s manual the timing of tire inspection and replacement. Please read and confirm the content of the owner’s manual.’
.
Several European vehicle manufacturers of high performance sports cars, coupes and sedans identify that “under no circumstances should tires older than 6 years be used” in their vehicle owner’s manual. However, it should be noted that European recommendations must include driving conditions that include roads like the German Autobahn, which allows vehicles to be legally driven at their top speeds for extended periods of time.”
.
This is from Consumer Reports:
.
“At a recent tire conference, an engineer from a major tire company was remarking on tire aging and the fact that tire age restrictions apply to tires in-service. That caught my attention, because some automobile and tire manufactures say unused tires six years or older should not be put into service. What did he mean by that?
.
The key words were “in-service” refer to any tire mounted on a wheel and inflated. So, even a spare tire sitting in the trunk of a car is in-service. The illuminating aspect of the discussion was if a tire is properly stored and not mounted on a wheel, it will not age appreciably.
.
So what does that mean for you when it comes to purchasing new tires? Should you accept whatever age new tires are available? Our take is still the same as before: purchase the newest tires possible – find ones that are no more than a couple of years old. Why take a risk without the knowledge of knowing how a tire might have been stored? Again, we think you should follow the recommendations of the automobile manufacturer if available. And certainly remove any tires that are 10 years old or older.”
.
From Allexperts.com:
.
“Recent bulletins from the tire industry indicate that tires degrade simply due to time. The age of a tire is important even if the tire is unused. There some disagreement over how to best express this age limitation, but my take is:
.
If you live in a hot climate (AZ, CA, NV, TX, and FL) then the limit is six years. If you live in a cold climate (MN, ND, WI, MT, etc), then the limit is 10 years. States in between are ….. ah …….. in between.
.
No matter which state you live in, 14 years is way beyond the limits being published.”
.
You can find more here, from a 2005 article in a tire industry periodical. It mentions the objections made by tire companies, who would clearly have preferred that we believe their products don’t age: http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4371902/Six-year-shelf-life-Ford.html
.
Your inspection recommendation is not realistic. I inspected my dad’s old tire AFTER it failed, and it was impossible to see a difference between it and the other tires. Sidewall cracks can be impossible to see and diagnose as meaningful unless you spray the tires with detergent AND you know the sidewalls are the problem.
.
I should add that this was a little-used tire on a car that sat in the shade for several years.
July 20th, 2009 at 12:57 PM
I worked at a Firestone store for almost 4 yrs and never once saw a tire blow out because it was to old. Saw a lot that wouldn’t hold air anymore for very long, can’t tell you how many old truck tires are running around on farms wagons with tubes stuck in them.
July 20th, 2009 at 4:29 PM
I made the mistake of buying expensive high performance tires for my high performance HD. They were good for all of 6000 miles before the tread completely disappeared. Went back to good old standard Dunlops, 14,000 miles and still looking like new.
July 20th, 2009 at 11:22 PM
My dad had an old 1965 VW beetle that he had to replace the tires on because the old 4 ply bias tires dry rotted and the sidewalls cracked before he wore the tread out on them…in the late 1960’s early 1970’s that was every four or five years.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:28 PM
go to Long’s Motorcycles, they know guzzi’s and mount your tires good.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Is that near Miami?